"Empower Failure" is the first segment of the first episode of the Disney Channel animated series Hamster & Gretel.
Synopsis[]
Hamster and Gretel get superpowers from aliens while Kevin grapples with being "superhero adjacent".
Plot[]
Kevin has just gotten his driver's license and is proud, but has to drive his little sister Gretel and their pet hamster Hamster to soccer practice in their parents' mini-van. After the van breaks down, they are suddenly visited by a UFO who tells them that they will receive superpowers. Unfortunately for Kevin, by the two of them, he meant Hamster and Gretel, leaving Kevin a powerless "superhero adjacent" whose main ability is simply to help guide Hamster and Gretel on missions.
After rescuing a cat from a well, in which Gretel refuses to listen to Kevin's instructions despite Hamster efficiently doing so, Kevin takes the duo to the mall for a signing where Gretel's friend Bailey is there. Despite noticing the similarities between Gretel the hero and Gretel her friend, she ignorantly cannot put two and two together; Gretel, wanting to keep her powers a secret, keeps up the act. However, Kevin has told his cousin Fred, mostly due to her indifference to people in general. At the comic book store, Fred realizes that Kevin has a crush on employee Hiromi and sets the two of them on a date to go to the Duck Boys Concert as she just so happens to be friends with the guitarist.
On the day of the concert, a new supervillain named Professor Exclamation announces his intent to take over city hall as the police are also attending the concert and therefore preoccupied at the moment. Despite Kevin not wanting her to, Gretel heads out with Hamster to stop the evildoer. Kevin arrives at city hall to stop Gretel so that she does not get hurt, but Gretel tells him that she can take care of herself and that she appreciates him. Kevin decides to sit back and watch Hamster and Gretel take out Exclamation's robots. However, just as he leaves to head back to the concert, Hamster and Gretel are entrapped in a dome by Exclamation who reveals that it runs on the city's power grid.
Kevin rushes back to the concert and asks Fred to get him up on stage, disguised as a Duck Boy, to send a message to the whole city to turn on their appliances and every electrical thing they have in the house. Kevin confronts Exclamation and reveals that he is overpowering the grid. The dome releases Hamster and Gretel who knock out Exclamation and take him to the police. Gretel thanks Kevin for being her support. Afterwards, Kevin arrives at the concert and apologizes to Hiromi, as he had to leave to help his sister. She forgives him, finding her love for her sister cute, and asks that he drive her home. As Gretel tells Hamster that he has no taste for love, Hamster suddenly talks, surprising her.
Songs[]
Cast[]
- Meli Povenmire as Gretel Grant-Gomez
- Michael Cimino as Kevin Grant-Gomez
- Beck Bennett as Hamster
- Liza Koshy as Veronica Hill
- Priah Ferguson as Bailey Carter
- Joey King as Fred
- Hiromi Dames as Hiromi Tanaka
- Phil LaMarr as Professor Exclamation
- Dan Povenmire as UFO
Trivia[]
- Despite not having superpowers, Kevin is part of the team as he is the brains.
- Kevin and Gretel's cousin Fred knows their secret due to Kevin telling her about them off screen because he knew she would never talk about it to anybody.
- At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Hamster can actually talk.
- On the back of the Bull Man comic that Kevin reads is an ad for a "Shrink-inator". This may be a homage to how Heinz Doofenshmirtz would always include "-inator" in the names of his inventions in Dan Povernmire's other series, Phineas and Ferb, more specifically his "Shrink-inator Ray" from the episode "Not Phineas and Ferb".
- Among the comics that Kevin & Fred go through at the comic store is one featuring a superhero called "Alumiman", an obvious reference to Iron Man.
- This segment is noticeably longer than eleven minutes so as to help establish the series. Because of this, the second segment is shorter.
International premieres[]
- March 12, 2023 (France; this episode premiered earlier on Youtube on March 1, 2023)
- April 1, 2023 (Spain, Portugal)
- April 12, 2023 (Italy); premiere on Disney+)
- April 17, 2023 (Germany)
Gallery[]
External links[]
